Mine arrived in the mail today! ;D
I had to work late today, so I didn't get a chance to take any pics, but here are some first impressions:
The level of detail is fantastic for a reasonably priced plastic kit. There are thousands of rivets, and they are all crisp, and "scale looking". I am disappointed in the amount of flash between the ties, but a good sharp x-acto blade will clean it up fine. I read, re-read, and read again the instructions...hate them. It is definately not a dpm or cornerstone structure that can be slapped together with minimal pre fitting of parts. The instructions include an exploded view, a parts list that's numbered (but no numbers on sprues) a not-so-great photo of the completed bridge, and three photos that correspond with construction steps. There are a few steps that call for some extra finesse of parts, and specific order of assembly, which would be very difficult to illustrate with photos or drawings, so you have to pay attention to the text in the instructions. I have seen the instructions for their HO Truss bridge, and this is nothing like it. The HO version seems to be almost scratchbuilding, whereas this one is much more complete in design, which is great, and I am really looking forward to starting the build, I just need to make sure I slow myself down, to make sure it comes out as nice as it should, because it really is fantastic for plastic.
So... Now with Atlas releasing RTR Through Trusses, both in C80 and C55, it will be interesting to see how they will stack up against this kit, because I feel that this bridge will become the standard that modelers will judge the competition by.
Great Job CVMW! Now...fix the instructions!
Rich
